Kindle 2 Review, Format Candidate #1
This Kindle 2 review was written using the first format candidate. For ease of navigation (on friend pages and the like, the main content of the review is cut, leaving just the conclusion viewable. Comment to this post not only for discussion of the review's content, but for how the formatting works or doesn't work as well. Your input will help decide the look of future reviews. Thanks for your time and assistance and I hope you enjoy the review.
PICTURES TO COME SOON!
The Good:
-Display quality. The 600x800 pixel display uses the low-power e-Ink technology use by most eBook readers. Primarily used for text, its color palette is a 16-level grayscale, 4 times as many gray shades of the original Nintendo Game Boy and twice that of the first Kindle. The result of that is not only crisp text, but clear photographs and illustrations that aren’t plagued by the washed-out distortion of low-contrast displays. Text is easy to read on the highly-reflective screen even in bright light.
-Slim profile. Technology seems to be more impressive when it is thin. At a third of an inch thickness, the Kindle 2 qualifies. Even in the well-padded Amazon case, it’s profile resembles an appointment book rather than a portable library.
-Adjustable text size. There are six font sizes to choose from allowing greater accessibility to those with sight impairments. Since the number of pages decreases with text size, progress is tracked via “locations” that are linked to actual text rather than pages. Think of it like chapters in a paper book. It gets reprinted throughout its life span and the pages aren’t likely to match up each time. But chapter 2 is always chapter 2 even in the other versions. If you stopped there and switched to a different edition, you know you can resume at that same chapter.
-Battery life. A key advantage to e-Ink over LCD displays is that the e-Ink doesn’t require power to display images. The battery remains untouched until a page is turned and the screen refreshes. With wireless switched off, the battery can last over 10 days of frequent reading.
-Kindle Store. There are quite a few books available and more are added daily (or near enough). In general, the Kindle versions of books undercut Amazon’s price for print editions. Many new release books can be downloaded for $10 compared to the $20+ you’d have to pay for the hardcover. It also has periodicals like newspapers and magazines that have been specially formatted for the device and at subscription rates below hard copies.
-Whispernet. Thanks to some arrangement with Sprint, all Kindle devices can use the EVDO/CDMA mobile broadband network to connect to the Kindle Store and even browse the web using the included basic web browser. Wireless can be switched off through the menu system to save battery power (battery life drops to about 3-4 days while on). If you have wireless enabled on your device, new purchases will be sent immediately even if the Kindle is in standby. If wireless is off, it will download the new content once wireless is enabled. Sync can also be done via USB if you can’t or want to avoid using wireless.
-Whispersync. As long as you have an active connection to the Amazon servers, progress through your books is stored and shared across multiple devices. Suppose you have two Kindles on your account. You start reading a book on one of them. When you open that book on the second device, you can resume reading from where you left off on the other one.
-Online content management. All Kindle Store purchases are tied to your Amazon account and can be transferred to any and all of your Kindle devices wirelessly, free of charge. Simply navigate to the Kindle page in your account settings and you can select the sync settings for each item.
-Built-in research tools. The Kindle 2 includes a full Merriam-Webster dictionary for quick word look up. If that isn’t enough information, Whispernet can be used to access Wikipedia or conduct a web search.
-Onboard storage. 2GB if data (1.4GB available to the user) might not seem a like much in the age of 2TB hard drives and tie clip-sized mp3 players with 4GB. But eBooks are very small and the Kindle 2 has enough space onboard for well over 1000 books. If space does become an issue, deleting saved books is easy and, since they are managed online, they can be downloaded again for free at any time.
The Bad:
-Limited function device. In the end, the Kindle 2 is an eBook reader. It lacks the versatility of other gadgets (many mp3 players can now play movies and games). The limited web browser is no substitute even for a smartphone or MID.
-Price tag. Considering that all the Kindle 2 is really good for is reading books, $360 is a bit steep. This is sort of balanced by Amazon covering the cost of the mobile broadband service, but it still feels like something you should be able to get for $100 or so.
-Better e-Ink displays are out there. While 16 shades of gray is a definite improvement over the previous Kindle, there are more advanced screens on the market. Sony has integrated touch support while Fujistu already has a full-color e-Ink display on the market.
-Slow screen refresh and wake. It isn’t as bad as some of the other e-Ink devices on the market, but the lag is noticeable, particularly when returning from standby.
-Input. The Kindle 2 uses a 5-way control stick (four directions, click for action) for on-page navigation. Due to the slow refresh rate of e-Ink, scrolling through text in this manner can take several seconds longer than it rightfully should and simply begs for touch screen support. Fortunately page turns are done by large buttons on the edges of the device. Text entry is done via QWERTY keyboard, but response time is poor.
-Support for other formats. In addition to content purchased directly from the Kindle Store, heavily-DRMed proprietary format files, it is possible to get other text-based media onto the Kindle. Your Kindle account has an email address that you can send a document to and it will return with a Kindle-ready file. Why is this bad? Aside from lacking native support for anything other than Kindle books, the service isn’t necessarily free. There are actually two email addresses you can use: one will simply email the new file back to you to sync via USB, the other charges 10 cents per file for wireless delivery to the Kindle. If you don’t want to rack up additional fees, make sure you use the right email address.
-No backlight. Amazon wanted the device to more closely resemble a book when in use. that includes not being able to read in darkness. There is no built-in backlight so you’ll need to buy a book light if you want to read at night.
-“Open standard” for docking/charging. The general idea of implementing an open standard is to allow for existing peripherals to interface with your device. After the original Kindle’s proprietary charging plug become the subject of much criticism, news that USB was to be the new standard was joyous news. Except for the small detail that instead of using the widely used mini-B connection, it used microUSB. How many people have a microUSB device? Anyone? No? Well, all is not lost, as it will soon be the overarching standard for cellphones in the next couple of years…in the European Union. Lot of good that does for us across the pond.
-No expansion slot for extra storage. The original Kindle had limited onboard storage, but it made up for it with an SD card slot. That feature is suspiciously missing from the Kindle 2 making the 2GB cell the only local storage available. It will still hold a lot of books and redownloading content isn’t overly troublesome if you have an internet connection or are in Sprint’s coverage area, but there really isn’t any good reason for Amazon to have removed the card slot.
-Subscription fees for free blogs. Blogs can be a great source of information or entertainment. The best part is that they are free to view on the internet. Not the case on the Kindle. There are blogs available in the Kindle Store that will update throughout the day and are formatted for the device, but they aren’t free. Even at a single dollar, it is hard to justify paying for something you get at no charge online.
The Ugly:
-Anything under the Experimental menu. That includes the web browser, mp3 playback, and the controversial text-to-speech function that has since been updated to disallow certain titles access to the service. The browser is slow, lacks support for Java and Flash, and is only suitable for pages that are almost entirely text (very few these days). The controls for mp3 playback, other than volume control, are only found in the feature’s menu. If you want to pause or skip a song, you have to go through three menu levels (don’t forget about the slow refresh time on the screen). Why not a keyboard shortcut? And that all assumes that you want to rely on the low-quality speakers of the device and use precious storage space to hold the music files (you can use headphones, but the other points remain valid). Lastly, despite the noble intentions of text-to-speech and the battle to keep it alive, the feature is hardly practical. The voices still sound overtly robotic, don’t narrate smoothly, don’t have emotion, and you still have the issue of speakers to contend with.
-Keyboard. While slim, the device is still taller than it needs to be, mostly due to the inclusion of the keyboard. I’ve mentioned touch screen before and it merits repeating again here. Get rid of the keyboard, Amazon, it just takes up space.
-Inconsistencies in available Kindle content. In the case of serialized novels, it seems all too often that a book in the middle of the series is available as a Kindle book, but not the first books. Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
Closing Remarks:
The Kindle 2 is hardly perfect. In general, it marks an improvement over the first incarnation of Amazon’s reading device, but fails to notch a true evolutionary step to break out of the niche market and into the mainstream. There were a lot of design decisions made by Amazon that are questionable at best, but the device remains usable and still one of the best readers on the market. If you aren’t in the market for an eBook reader, you aren’t in the market for a Kindle 2. For frequent travelers, it is quite practical to have a years’ worth of reading material available in such a compact package so an eBook reader makes sense. There are several options available in that market, so what makes the Kindle 2 so special? It really comes down to convenience. No other eBook reader series on the market has any form of wireless connectivity let alone Whispernet. Being able to manage your library and download new content on the go may well be worth the extra cost. Even if it is crippled to no small degree, the Kindle 2 still has free wireless broadband that may still be useful to check email (depending on the service you use) or waste time browsing Wikipedia. It is actually pretty hard to recommend a device that really could be so much more. the Kindle 2 does its job well enough to satisfy a purchaser who can put it to good use, but it also wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait and hope for a Kindle 3.
PICTURES TO COME SOON!
The Good:
-Display quality. The 600x800 pixel display uses the low-power e-Ink technology use by most eBook readers. Primarily used for text, its color palette is a 16-level grayscale, 4 times as many gray shades of the original Nintendo Game Boy and twice that of the first Kindle. The result of that is not only crisp text, but clear photographs and illustrations that aren’t plagued by the washed-out distortion of low-contrast displays. Text is easy to read on the highly-reflective screen even in bright light.
-Slim profile. Technology seems to be more impressive when it is thin. At a third of an inch thickness, the Kindle 2 qualifies. Even in the well-padded Amazon case, it’s profile resembles an appointment book rather than a portable library.
-Adjustable text size. There are six font sizes to choose from allowing greater accessibility to those with sight impairments. Since the number of pages decreases with text size, progress is tracked via “locations” that are linked to actual text rather than pages. Think of it like chapters in a paper book. It gets reprinted throughout its life span and the pages aren’t likely to match up each time. But chapter 2 is always chapter 2 even in the other versions. If you stopped there and switched to a different edition, you know you can resume at that same chapter.
-Battery life. A key advantage to e-Ink over LCD displays is that the e-Ink doesn’t require power to display images. The battery remains untouched until a page is turned and the screen refreshes. With wireless switched off, the battery can last over 10 days of frequent reading.
-Kindle Store. There are quite a few books available and more are added daily (or near enough). In general, the Kindle versions of books undercut Amazon’s price for print editions. Many new release books can be downloaded for $10 compared to the $20+ you’d have to pay for the hardcover. It also has periodicals like newspapers and magazines that have been specially formatted for the device and at subscription rates below hard copies.
-Whispernet. Thanks to some arrangement with Sprint, all Kindle devices can use the EVDO/CDMA mobile broadband network to connect to the Kindle Store and even browse the web using the included basic web browser. Wireless can be switched off through the menu system to save battery power (battery life drops to about 3-4 days while on). If you have wireless enabled on your device, new purchases will be sent immediately even if the Kindle is in standby. If wireless is off, it will download the new content once wireless is enabled. Sync can also be done via USB if you can’t or want to avoid using wireless.
-Whispersync. As long as you have an active connection to the Amazon servers, progress through your books is stored and shared across multiple devices. Suppose you have two Kindles on your account. You start reading a book on one of them. When you open that book on the second device, you can resume reading from where you left off on the other one.
-Online content management. All Kindle Store purchases are tied to your Amazon account and can be transferred to any and all of your Kindle devices wirelessly, free of charge. Simply navigate to the Kindle page in your account settings and you can select the sync settings for each item.
-Built-in research tools. The Kindle 2 includes a full Merriam-Webster dictionary for quick word look up. If that isn’t enough information, Whispernet can be used to access Wikipedia or conduct a web search.
-Onboard storage. 2GB if data (1.4GB available to the user) might not seem a like much in the age of 2TB hard drives and tie clip-sized mp3 players with 4GB. But eBooks are very small and the Kindle 2 has enough space onboard for well over 1000 books. If space does become an issue, deleting saved books is easy and, since they are managed online, they can be downloaded again for free at any time.
The Bad:
-Limited function device. In the end, the Kindle 2 is an eBook reader. It lacks the versatility of other gadgets (many mp3 players can now play movies and games). The limited web browser is no substitute even for a smartphone or MID.
-Price tag. Considering that all the Kindle 2 is really good for is reading books, $360 is a bit steep. This is sort of balanced by Amazon covering the cost of the mobile broadband service, but it still feels like something you should be able to get for $100 or so.
-Better e-Ink displays are out there. While 16 shades of gray is a definite improvement over the previous Kindle, there are more advanced screens on the market. Sony has integrated touch support while Fujistu already has a full-color e-Ink display on the market.
-Slow screen refresh and wake. It isn’t as bad as some of the other e-Ink devices on the market, but the lag is noticeable, particularly when returning from standby.
-Input. The Kindle 2 uses a 5-way control stick (four directions, click for action) for on-page navigation. Due to the slow refresh rate of e-Ink, scrolling through text in this manner can take several seconds longer than it rightfully should and simply begs for touch screen support. Fortunately page turns are done by large buttons on the edges of the device. Text entry is done via QWERTY keyboard, but response time is poor.
-Support for other formats. In addition to content purchased directly from the Kindle Store, heavily-DRMed proprietary format files, it is possible to get other text-based media onto the Kindle. Your Kindle account has an email address that you can send a document to and it will return with a Kindle-ready file. Why is this bad? Aside from lacking native support for anything other than Kindle books, the service isn’t necessarily free. There are actually two email addresses you can use: one will simply email the new file back to you to sync via USB, the other charges 10 cents per file for wireless delivery to the Kindle. If you don’t want to rack up additional fees, make sure you use the right email address.
-No backlight. Amazon wanted the device to more closely resemble a book when in use. that includes not being able to read in darkness. There is no built-in backlight so you’ll need to buy a book light if you want to read at night.
-“Open standard” for docking/charging. The general idea of implementing an open standard is to allow for existing peripherals to interface with your device. After the original Kindle’s proprietary charging plug become the subject of much criticism, news that USB was to be the new standard was joyous news. Except for the small detail that instead of using the widely used mini-B connection, it used microUSB. How many people have a microUSB device? Anyone? No? Well, all is not lost, as it will soon be the overarching standard for cellphones in the next couple of years…in the European Union. Lot of good that does for us across the pond.
-No expansion slot for extra storage. The original Kindle had limited onboard storage, but it made up for it with an SD card slot. That feature is suspiciously missing from the Kindle 2 making the 2GB cell the only local storage available. It will still hold a lot of books and redownloading content isn’t overly troublesome if you have an internet connection or are in Sprint’s coverage area, but there really isn’t any good reason for Amazon to have removed the card slot.
-Subscription fees for free blogs. Blogs can be a great source of information or entertainment. The best part is that they are free to view on the internet. Not the case on the Kindle. There are blogs available in the Kindle Store that will update throughout the day and are formatted for the device, but they aren’t free. Even at a single dollar, it is hard to justify paying for something you get at no charge online.
The Ugly:
-Anything under the Experimental menu. That includes the web browser, mp3 playback, and the controversial text-to-speech function that has since been updated to disallow certain titles access to the service. The browser is slow, lacks support for Java and Flash, and is only suitable for pages that are almost entirely text (very few these days). The controls for mp3 playback, other than volume control, are only found in the feature’s menu. If you want to pause or skip a song, you have to go through three menu levels (don’t forget about the slow refresh time on the screen). Why not a keyboard shortcut? And that all assumes that you want to rely on the low-quality speakers of the device and use precious storage space to hold the music files (you can use headphones, but the other points remain valid). Lastly, despite the noble intentions of text-to-speech and the battle to keep it alive, the feature is hardly practical. The voices still sound overtly robotic, don’t narrate smoothly, don’t have emotion, and you still have the issue of speakers to contend with.
-Keyboard. While slim, the device is still taller than it needs to be, mostly due to the inclusion of the keyboard. I’ve mentioned touch screen before and it merits repeating again here. Get rid of the keyboard, Amazon, it just takes up space.
-Inconsistencies in available Kindle content. In the case of serialized novels, it seems all too often that a book in the middle of the series is available as a Kindle book, but not the first books. Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
Closing Remarks:
The Kindle 2 is hardly perfect. In general, it marks an improvement over the first incarnation of Amazon’s reading device, but fails to notch a true evolutionary step to break out of the niche market and into the mainstream. There were a lot of design decisions made by Amazon that are questionable at best, but the device remains usable and still one of the best readers on the market. If you aren’t in the market for an eBook reader, you aren’t in the market for a Kindle 2. For frequent travelers, it is quite practical to have a years’ worth of reading material available in such a compact package so an eBook reader makes sense. There are several options available in that market, so what makes the Kindle 2 so special? It really comes down to convenience. No other eBook reader series on the market has any form of wireless connectivity let alone Whispernet. Being able to manage your library and download new content on the go may well be worth the extra cost. Even if it is crippled to no small degree, the Kindle 2 still has free wireless broadband that may still be useful to check email (depending on the service you use) or waste time browsing Wikipedia. It is actually pretty hard to recommend a device that really could be so much more. the Kindle 2 does its job well enough to satisfy a purchaser who can put it to good use, but it also wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait and hope for a Kindle 3.